Wednesday

Sep 11, 2019 at 8:31 PMSep 12, 2019 at 6:12 AM

The State Medical Board has appointed an ad hoc committee and authorized spending up to $20,000 on outside legal fees in response to recommendations made after the discovery that the board didn't act on a 1996 complaint against Ohio State physician Richard Strauss, now accused of decades of sexual abuse.

The medical board also discussed several other matters in a Wednesday meeting, including plans to review the actions of physicians who might have known about the abuse but failed to report it, to examine 2,000 past sexual-impropriety investigations, and to make information about closed cases more public.

Those are among recommendations made in August in a working group's report requested by Gov. Mike DeWine.

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Medical board member Betty Montgomery, a former state attorney general, stressed the importance of looking at old cases to see if there were other failures. "If there was a priority, this would be the priority," she said.

Board President Dr. Michael Schottenstein said he expected the review of 2,000 closed cases dating to 1979 to take about six months. The goal is to determine whether the closures were proper and whether the cases identify physicians who knew about abuse but did not report it.

The working group on July 10 requested that the university provide its unredacted report from the Seattle-based law firm Perkins Coie and the identities of any license holders referenced in the report not by name but by title or description. Schottenstein said Ohio State provided the report but not the names. Another request will be made, he said.

>> Read more: First dissent emerges to bill giving Strauss victims more time to sue Ohio State

Chris Davey, Ohio State's interim vice president of communications, said in a statement and in communication with The Dispatch on Wednesday evening that the university has been "fully engaged" and "responsive" with the working group in efforts "to investigate and expose the misdeeds of Richard Strauss and the systemic failures to respond."

Davey said university officials met in person with working group members, provided an unredacted copy of the Perkins Coie investigative report, and provided a complete roster of sports medicine physicians from Strauss’ time at Ohio State from the 1985-86 to 1999-2000 school years.

In response to the 13 total requests from the board, however, Ohio State's letter to the board shows it was able to provide responses to only five. The university's responses to seven of the information requests was "unknown," and its response was "unspecified" in an eighth, with Ohio State saying that the independent report from Perkins Coie did not contain certain confidential information because of privacy concerns for victims and whistleblowers.

DeWine formed the working group in response to findings from the Perkins Coie investigation that showed Strauss had molested at least 177 students from the late 1970s through the mid-1990s while serving in the athletic department and student health center. It also showed that employees who knew about the misconduct failed to act to stop it. Strauss killed himself in California in 2005.

>> Read more: What awaits doctors who knew about Strauss abuse but failed to report it?

The university report had included some information about the medical board's response, but much was redacted due to confidentiality laws. The working group was able to review the full medical board report and discovered that credible evidence was ignored, resulting in the investigation falling into a "black hole" and eventually being closed without a documented reason in 2002.

Schottenstein presented and supported much of the working group's recommendations, including all that related to balancing confidentiality and transparency. Although information on citations and other board actions are public, state law requires that complaints and licensing boards' investigative materials remain confidential.

"We don't want to take action that will have a chilling effect on complaints coming forward," he said. "... At the same time, confidentiality cannot be so exhaustive that it can be used by the board to avoid embarrassment or to avoid legitimate inspection and oversight." The public should be afforded the "maximum amount of information possible."

Schottenstein suggested that information about closed cases and the reason for closure should be publicly available on the board's website, without identifying parties involved.

"That was one of the things that was very, very frustrating about the Strauss case," Schottenstein said. "Because it was closed, and we don't know why."

As part of an effort to identify medical board licensees who failed to report any abuse by Strauss, the board will review its 1996 investigation as well as the Perkins Coie report.

Schottenstein, Montgomery and board members Robert Giacalone and Michael Gonidakis volunteered to be on the four-member ad hoc committee to help prepare an initial report on the working group's recommendations by Oct. 1.

The medical board also heard recommendations on quality assurance, with suggestions that investigations be subject to regular review. Dr. Jonathan Feibel said the board should receive and review summaries of closed sexual-impropriety cases, without identities included. Giacolone agreed, saying such a policy would keep "checks and balances" in place.

Schottenstein stressed the importance of promoting an anonymous hotline on the board's website.

He also supported check boxes on licensing materials, where physicians acknowledge that they have a duty to report known or suspected wrongdoing by others, and additional training and education. He also suggested the board review a North Carolina law that will require licensees there to report suspected sexual misconduct within 30 days; the intent of the review would be to consider advocating for something similar in Ohio.

Members discussed building relationships with law enforcement agencies and creating policies that ensure that the board reports suspected sexual crimes to police.

Giacolone said the board should discuss with law enforcement any request to place board investigations on hold during criminal investigations, which often take longer to complete.

"We can take the person out sooner. ... I don't want that to be a situation where we're worried about criminally prosecuting somebody, and people are getting hurt," he said.

jviviano@dispatch.com

@JoAnneViviano

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